Saturday Genetics Quiz #12: Genomics and Genetics

This week’s question:

What’s the difference between “genomics” and “genetics”? Or are they interchangeable?

Answer:

From the Human Genome Project Glossary:

Genomics – The study of genes and their function.

Genetics – The study of inheritance patterns of specific traits.

There’s obviously some overlap between the two. Generally, the suffix “omics” refers to a field of study in biology. Proteomics is another common neologism referring to the study of proteins. Wikipedia points out that the word “comics” is not an omics word.

NB: I think I may have to stop saying GENETIC revolution in favor of GENOMIC revolution.